Recommend Me Some Muzak! (1 Viewer)

[Shane Harg]

Okay, I'm sure "what's your one all-time favorite album?" thread has probably been done a million times. But for my own purposes I want to compile a list of albums, recommended by other music connoisseurs. What I'm looking for is not necessarily your favorite album, but ONE album (or perhaps one CD, one SACD, one DVD-A and one vinyl LP), you could recommend that is just great music, not for the kind of music it is, but because it is just infectious, enrapturing, striking, stunning, marvelous, miraculous, wonderous music, because of how it is mixed, because of the energy and sincerity of the artist(s), or just because it is great music for music's sake - an album that you perhaps bought blindly (like on somebody's recommendation) and it just blew you away.

My one recommendation on CD, for example, would be Best of Lari White. I saw this CD recommended in (I think) Sound & Vision and I bought it at (again, I think) Half.com w/o even knowing who she was. Now, I'm not a huge fan of country music, but this is just a great CD. Punchy bass, she's a hell of a good singer and the energy driving the music just makes me want to MOVE!

In any case, I'm open just about any kind of music, with the possible exceptions of hip-hop and opera. I love classical, jazz (especially acoustic jazz), bluegrass (and any permutation thereof), rock, ethnic music and even some pop. So, BRING IT ON!!

 

[Henry Gale]

Really?


With the word "Muzak" in your topic, I'm sure you'll get a lot of interesting response.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Yeah, what's up with the "Muzak?"

Can you narrow things down a bit more? I'm tempted to respond to such a generic request with "dig through all the existing threads."

Here's a recommendation. If you can find it, the album Compendium by the band Mr. So & So is just about as good as neo-prog rock can get. (Despite the title, it's not a compilation.)

 

[Shane Harg]

Okay, dumb idea. Guess I'm asking too much. Sorry, and never mind.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Well, don't run off mad! Just let us know some other things that you like so we can narrow down recommendations.

 

[MikeH1]

Buddy and Julie Miller.

 

[Anthony Hom]

If you're talking best "musak" album, I would recommend any CDs by:
Ray Conniff, Hollyridge Strings, Mantovani, Bert Kaempfert, Mitch Miller, 101 Strings, Jackie Gleason.

 

[ThomasC]

Mew - and the Glass Handed Kites

It's progressive rock, so it may not be your thing. If it is, don't be turned off by the album cover; the music is much better than the cover. If you're still in Japan like your profile says, good. The Japanese print has a couple extra tracks, and they're great. It may take a few listens for you to like it; the band said to "give it time."

 

[Manus]

Porcupine Tree's 'Stupid Dream' Dvd-A/Cd set. Live they sound quite rocky but on disc the quality sound just sucks you in. Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris 'All the Roadrunning' is a great listen on CD too.

~M~

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Porcupine Tree sounded great when I saw them live.

Second that recommendation.

 

[Anicrow]

Aggalloch - The Mantle


Might be a little dark for your taste, but it's 90% Instruments, (Mostly accoustic guitars, with very ambient drumbing, and a whole winter thing going on.

It has "whisper screams" (Very suttle and well matched to the guitar playing) along with regular singing.

However, it's absolutely amazing, especially if you're on a good System. (Really need to be to hear everything in the songs)

 

[Shane Harg]

Are you kidding? I LOVE that kind of stuff! Been listening to Floyd's dark, yet expressive offerings since I was a kid and they still my all time favorite rock band. I'll check this one out. Thanks.

Thanks for all the other recommendations, too. Especially to Michael Hein for turning me on to Buddy & Julie Miller. I loved what I heard on their website.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I'll check that out. Sounds interesting! (Note to people searching: there's only one 'g' in Agalloch -- Amazon won't find Aggalloch! )

 

[Tony-B]

Phrenology by The Roots

It's hip-hop, yeah, but it's damn good, and it's a very eclectic album. Even if you don't like hip-hop, I recommend checking it out because it's not what you think. They never talk about slappin' hos, bustin' gats and all that stuff, in fact they criticize the typical hip hop lyrical content. Also, they are a hip-hop band, they play real actual instruments. They havea drummer, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, and of course an MC. Their music is more smooth and jazzy than what you normally think of as rap. I highly recommend checking out Phrenology, Things Fall Apart, Game Theory, or The Tipping Point. Try out some songs from all of them and see what you like most.

 

[Jean D]

If you like Floyd, I would recommend the Mars Volta's "De-Loused In the Comatorium"

For a completely different sound than that, I was recently introduced to the new Guster album "Ganging Up On the Sun". This I think is a great album.

For a British Pop-Rock style Ive recently been Introduced into Keane's new album "Under the Iron Sea"

 

[Tony-B]

I also recommend Mars Volta, however I think their later albums are more Floyd like.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I just got De-Loused In The Comatorium. I like it too, but I'm not sure that I'd describe it as Floyd-like. Maybe in its experimentalism, but it's heavier than most Floyd.

 

[Jean D]

Agreed its definitely heavier, the story is really amazing though. its based on a true story about a friend of theirs who ended up in a coma and after he woke up he wanted to go back because he was in another world where he was their savior. so back in the real world he struggled to be normal but couldnt handle it anymore and killed himself to go back to finish the job in that other dimension. theres an accompanying book that you can find online which is the story of the album. It's really a cool story. the songs are in between the chapters. If you havent read it, read it while listening to the songs in the approriate area, it really does enhance the album when you can understand where it all comes from. I think a fan site which has all this information is The Comatorium Oddly enough, I tried to get my cousin who does some basic production/directing stuff in LA who went to RISD to turn this into a movie, but I don't think he could picture it like I could.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Thanks, Jean! I'll check that out. I had no idea about the story.

 

[Tony-B]

The story is interesting stuff. If you like De-Loused, I'd move on to Franced the Mute. It's way more experimental and it also has a very good story. Amputechture is a good album too, but there isn't really a unifying story.

Also, if you like TMV, you might want to try out At The Drive In. ATDI is the band that Cedric and Omar (the two guys behind The Mars Volta) were in before they left to form The Mars Volta. ATDI is not as experimental as TMV, but they are a darned good punk/hardcore/emo band.